Intermezzo
by OrchisAilsa
Summary: An 8/Charley "missing scene" story set between Scherzo, The Creed of the Kromon, and The Natural History of Fear. Newly arrived in a foreign universe, the Doctor and Charley work through the emotional fallout of their recent experiences. Drawn to each other and lost together, they explore the exciting chemistry between them and find comfort in an uncertain alien world.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story begins ****shortly after the disturbing events of _Scherzo, _with both Charley and the Doctor feeling a bit raw and worn out by all they've been through so far. The quotations in italics are transcribed from the show and do not belong to me. :-) Happy reading!**

xo, OA

* * *

**In·ter·mez·zo **noun. _(plural:_ **_in·ter·mez·zi_**)

: a short part of a musical work (such as an opera) that connects major sections of the work  
**:** a short, light entr'acte  
**:** a movement coming between the major sections of an extended musical work (as an opera)

* * *

_Everything had gone horribly wrong. The Ice Warriors had her friends. Panic threatened to overcome her but no. She had to remain calm. She had to think! She could come up with a plan..._

Charley awoke with a strangled scream, shaking at how vivid the dream had been. She gasped when she saw the Doctor crouching beside her in the dim light of the shallow cave. They had taken cover there to rest and regroup, to try to get their bearings in this strange universe where they knew nothing and no one, stranded without the comfort and safety of the TARDIS.

Upon leaving that horrible glass tube they had met a seemingly invisible creature who called himself Kro'ka, who had given Charley the creeps, though he seemed obliging enough. Upon explaining to him that they were searching for their missing vessel, he had smiled (at least it had sounded like a smile) and ushered them through a strange sort of portal, suggesting that this arid, hot "zone," as he called it, might be a good place for them to begin their search.

Things had been slightly tense between the Doctor and Charley since the incident with the music creature, which must have been several days before. It was hard to tell exactly how many, with the strange environment (the sun never quite seemed to fully go down on this planet) and the Doctor's time sense stripped away. There was a slight undercurrent of uneasiness between them that left them a little on edge, and to compensate, they had found themselves treating each other with a sort of distant politeness rather than their typical, easy warmth. It was part of the healing process, Charley supposed. She hated it.

"You were shouting in your sleep," the Doctor said hesitantly, presumably to explain his nearness.

"Sorry," she replied, blushing in embarrassment. "I hope I didn't wake you."

"You were calling for Jamie," he continued, moving a bit closer and looking at her the way he did a particularly fascinating new plant. "Do you know anyone named Jamie? Have you ever?"

She blinked at his questions, some of the details of her dream coming back to her.

"No. No, I suppose I don't. But... In the dream I did. He seemed so real, and so extremely important to me. I was frightened for him, and the girl as well. Her name was..."

"Zoe? Or perhaps Victoria." He sounded like he was miles away.

"Yes! Victoria! That's it. But... How did you know that?"

He sighed heavily, the weariness evident in his light eyes. She knew his answer before he spoke.

"They're your dreams," she whispered softly, suddenly feeling weary herself.

"Got it in one," he confirmed. His hand reached towards her hesitantly, as though to comfort her, but he pulled back and put it quickly in his pocket when he realized what he was doing.

She sighed.

They were back to being two organisms, thank goodness, but it seemed like the split had not been as clean as they would have liked. She had bits and pieces of his memories and his emotions rattling around in her head, popping up every so often to confuse her and alarm him.

"Charley," he whispered. "I'm afraid for you. Some of my memories- they aren't the sort of thing I want you to endure. If you would let me see your mind, I might be able to help..."

She knew about his mental powers, but recent events had left her far too raw to handle that level of intimacy.

"No," she whispered

"What?"

"No. I'll be all right."

"Charley, don't be silly. You're not sleeping. You can't just keep-"

"I said no!" she shouted, backing away from him slightly and pulling her knees up to her chest. Then, more quietly, she told him, "I'll deal with the nightmares. I'll get over them myself. But no, I will not have you poking around in my mind. It was bad enough feeling what you felt when we were fused together- all of those ugly emotions, your anger and fear and your death wish. To have you read my thoughts after all that mocking and tearing me down for my feelings the way you did... I just don't need that inside my head. I may just be a stupid, inferior, human, and I may be unfortunately in love with an alien man who can barely stand to look at me half the time - who in fact, told me outright that he never wanted to see me again, and we might be trapped together in a completely foreign, utterly terrifying universe... but i am managing to keep myself together, just barely. And now that we are two people again, my private thoughts are no one's but my own."

A dozen emotions crossed his face as he took in her words. None of them were happy. The memory of his cruel words hung in the air between them.

_"You silly little girl. You think I want you here? If I'm going to die I want to die alone. It was, I thought, the last decision I would ever make. That I could ever make. That it was my right to make. Charley, after all these years I should have been allowed that at least. That small final dignity. But here you are. You betrayed that. Even that has been taken from me."_

And later...

_"Interesting that it picks the moments at which we are at our most emotional... That embarrassing bit when you told me you loved me, for example..."_

"I've been horrible to you," he said softly.

"You have," she snapped in blunt reply, then, seeing his pained expression, added, "But it will be okay, Doctor. I just need some time... Or, you know, whatever it is that people need when you're in a place without real time."

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"You know," the Doctor whispered after awhile, "I don't deserve your trust or forgiveness at all. And I'm not excusing myself. But I do hope you understand why I was so angry. I was half mad from the anti-time, and in pain, and I was more frightened than I've ever been. And there you were... in just as much danger as ever, even though I'd done everything I could to keep you away from harm. All I wanted was your safety, Charley. It hurt me - it still hurts me - that you wouldn't let me take comfort in that. I felt like I lost the universe for nothing."

"You lost the universe to save _the universe_," Charley reminded him. "Romana and Leela and everyone else you've ever cared for, and everyone you've never met. Isn't that enough?"

"I know. You're right. And yes, it should be enough. But all I can think of is everything you might have had - a life I could never give you even under the best of circumstances. A good, human life, like you deserve, with family and holidays and shopping and scones with cream and... and a real future. Not like this. It's just... I don't know how to do this, Charley. Not like a human does. I meant it when I told you I don't understand love the way you do."

"Ah, yes," she said dryly. "You did mention that before. But, Doctor, it's not like I'm exactly an expert on the subject, either." She rolled her eyes. "They didn't teach classes on emotions at school, you know... at least not in 1930. But people do manage to figure it out, all the same. I was willing to figure it out. I _am_ willing to figure it out. And you're the only man I've ever wanted to-" she cut herself off, blushing furiously, refusing to give him the satisfaction of another heartfelt confession that he might later use to humiliate her, intentionally or not.

He sighed, obviously distressed over the pain he had caused her.

"It's more than that, Charley. Sometimes I think you forget how different we are. There's nothing even remotely comparable to human sexual relationships in all of Time Lord society. Children aren't born the way they are on Earth. Family units aren't even typically structured with a mother and father who raise children of their own. We live for so long, we can affect history so easily, that a detachment from others, especially offspring, is needed. Changing reality would be too tempting, otherwise, when things go unfavorably for loved ones. The ability for a Time Lord to remain calm and objective in highly charged situations is vital to keep reality intact." He paused and took a breath before going on.

"Not to mention that most Time Lords would never lower themselves to copulate like... well, as they perceive it... like animals. Children haven't been born that way on Gallifrey in eons, and the act of sex is, at best, considered unfashionably distasteful."

Charley blushed furiously at his frank discussion of sex. It was not something a well-bred, unmarried young lady would typically discuss so openly with anyone, let alone a man, in 1930. "Doctor," she murmured, "I'd never even considered-"

"Don't be silly, of course you have - and you should. That sort of intimacy is something you have every right to want and expect. It's normal for a human. The thing is, when you're near me Charley, I want it too. I want _you_ - which, like love, is something I shouldn't even be able to feel for you at all. I should, by all accounts, find such things appalling. The fact that I don't, that instead I find myself wanting to embrace them... It... Well, it's frankly terrifying."

Charley found herself annoyed by his reluctant confession.

"Ah yes. You desire me 'against your will, against your reason, and even against your character.' That sentiment wasn't very nice when Jane Austen wrote it, and it's no more flattering now." She scowled at him.

"Point taken." He gave her an amused half smile, but then his face turned serious and thoughtful again.

After a long moment of silence, he asked her quietly, "Tell me this. What would you do, Charley, if you met someone and fell in love, to the point of desperation, to where you felt like you needed him like you needed to breathe... But you knew he would only live for one more year?"

"What?" It was hard to keep up with his mood swings.

"You're human. I'm not. Barring catastrophe, which I admit is actually quite likely, given our circumstances, I will almost certainly outlive you by centuries. What then? When you leave me, by choice or by force... what will I do?"

Her heart broke all over again as she looked deep into his lost, sad eyes. _Like he needs to breathe..._

"You'll go on," she said simply, softly. "And you'll remember how much I loved you." She took a breath to steady the tremor in her voice as she made a choice. "But I know if it were me, in your place, I'd rather have the memories of how it felt to love you and be with you, rather than a pile of what-if's and regrets because I was too frightened to act on my feelings. I couldn't bear to be so cowardly."

She knew he had heard the challenge in her words, and part of her wanted to backtrack and soften them. But she didn't. This might be the last time she ever had the chance to have this conversation, so she set her jaw and refused to look away, though her face was flushed and her heart was pounding.

He was quiet for a long moment, studying her face. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft and gentle.

"You know, for a young girl with a sheltered childhood, you certainly are wise, Miss Pollard."

"I am?" She hadn't been expecting that, of all things, to come out of his mouth.

"You are." He smiled at her.

"Well, good. Because for a centuries-old genius who has seen more of time and space than any one man could ever dream of, you certainly are an idiot."

He laughed then. A real, genuine Doctor laugh, and Charley felt a boulder had lifted from her chest. She laughed too, even as tears came to her eyes.

"Oh Charley," he sighed, pulling her into a tight embrace and burying his nose in her hair. "Never forget that. I really, truly am an idiot."

"I never will," she promised, returning his hug fiercely. "But, Doctor..." She spoke again, hesitantly, "What's different now? Before... you've always pushed me away."

He pulled back slightly to look her in the eye.

"I know, and I probably still should. This is madness. But... right now, you're not about to die. I'm not being possessed by a madman from a fairy tale who's made of anti-time. We aren't in that horrid glass tube, deprived of all of our senses, save hearing. And though it still aches almost constantly, I'm in considerably less anguish than I was when my time senses were first burned away. I do believe this is the first time we've ever spoken of our feelings when I've been anywhere close to my right mind. And my right mind is telling me that I am in pain. And I am afraid. And that it would be utterly stupid to hold you at arm's length when the damage is already done, when we're already too close, and when we have nothing in this world but each other."

He bent his forehead to touch hers.

"Charley, I lo-"

Charley tensed, mistrust coursing through her.

"Don't say it, Doctor." She couldn't bear to hear the words, because she didn't trust them. Not yet.

_"Never do that again!"_ she had screamed at him._ "NEVER SAY THOSE WORDS AGAIN. Not if you don't mean them. Do you understand?"_

_"Yes," _he'd hissed.

_"They're too precious to be squandered. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"_

The Doctor fell silent, remembering as well. He understood.

And that was that. They clung to each other, Charley with her face buried in the Doctor's neck and he with his nose in her hair, laughing and crying, until at last, emotionally and physically exhausted, they laid down and fell asleep in each other's arms.

* * *

When Charley awoke the Doctor was spooned against her back with his arm wrapped around her, holding her close. She lay very still for a moment, trying to memorize the feeling of his body against her, solid and strong, slightly cooler to the touch than a human. His nearness gave her a sharp pang in her heart, and another much lower in her belly. She never wanted to move.

_I've just spent the night with a man,_ she thought to herself, _Mama would be shocked and appalled_.

She was amused at the fact that she felt naughty, even after all they had been through. She and the Doctor had endured so much together, recently- they had even evolved into one creature for a time. Surely one chaste, fully clothed night of sleep together was less scandalous than that.

He stirred when he realized she was awake, pulling her close to his chest. She realized he had likely been up for a long while.

"Good morning, Charley," He said affectionately, breathing in the scent of her neck and hair. His voice was low and raspy from sleep.

"Mmmm. Good morning, Doctor," she replied, tilting her head back to smile at him. As she did she arched her back, and tensed suddenly when she realized something hard and stiff was pressing against the curve of her hip. Inexperienced as she was. She knew what it must be. The fluttering feeling in her lower belly got stronger. Almost without realizing she was doing so, she arched her back farther, pressing back against his arousal, instinctively seeking to deepen the contact.

His breath hitched, startling her out of the moment.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She whispered, suddenly embarrassed at her body's eager reaction, and started to roll away from him.

The Doctor looked confused as she hastily pulled away, relaxing his grip to give her space.

"Charley, why in the world are you apologizing? What's wrong?"

_You're being ridiculous_, she scolded herself. _You've fought Daleks and Psionovores and worse. Pull yourself together._ She took a deep breath and sat up.

"It's nothing," she assured him. "I just wasn't expecting... I mean, I thought you said Time Lords didn't want..." She trailed off, blushing. Proper young ladies did not speak of such things. Charley had read her share of books that her mother had forbidden, and she knew a least some of the correct words to use, but she had never, ever uttered them out loud.

When he figured out what she wasn't saying, he smiled and chuckled softly. He sat up as well and tenderly brushed her hair out of her face.

"If I recall, I only said it was inappropriate for me to want you. I never said I don't. Quite the opposite, actually. But I do sometimes forget that you were raised in such a very conservative era. Does the idea of sexual intimacy frighten you? I certainly didn't mean to offend or alarm you when I told you that. And I hope you know I would never harm you."

"No!" She replied hastily. "I'm not frightened. I just feel... Confused. And..." She trailed off, uncertain.

"Aroused?" He suggested gently.

She blushed and nodded.

The Doctor smiled.

"Charley, this isn't the first time you've felt such feelings, is it?"

"No," she confessed, "Of course not. But I've never... I've always been... alone. It's always just been... In my imagination. Sometimes when I'm reading or... ah... Daydreaming."

_Usually about you,_ a voice in her head whispered. She blushed deeper at the thought.

"Honestly," she told him, "I don't really know too much about... any of that. My mother told me about how children are conceived of course, when I... um... became a woman. But it wasn't as though she went into a lot of detail. And I've learned some things from reading... But I'm sure there's a lot of gaps, and tons of stuff where I'd be totally in the dark. I'm sorry."

He smiled again, taking her hands in his to stop her fidgeting. "You haven't done anything that merits an apology, Miss Pollard. Inexperience is nothing to be embarrassed about. Especially not when you were raised at a time when experience, especially for ladies, is considered such a stigma."

She nodded her acceptance of his words, grateful that he was being so kind in the face of her awkwardness.

He looked thoughtful for a moment, weighing something in his mind before he spoke again.

"Would you like to learn more?" He asked her simply.

Shocked, Charley stammered, "I... I mean..."

She felt giddy as she turned the thought over in her mind. The fluttering in her stomach had transformed into a pool of heat at the idea of him exploring her body, and at the thought of exploring his. She felt less embarrassed now, and more curious. Very curious.

"Yes," she said at last, breathless. "I think I would."

He sat still for a moment, holding her gaze, smiling as though he could see the gears turning in her head. Then he winked at her and brushed his lips lightly against her knuckles in a soft kiss before standing up abruptly.

He helped her to her feet with a mischievous glimmer in his eye that only yesterday she had feared she would never see again.

"Shall we venture out into this strange new world now, and try to find some food?" he asked her, squeezing her hands in his.

Charley, who found she was actually quite hungry, and also quite relieved to change subject and lighten the mood, nodded her head vigorously in agreement.

They put on their coats and shoes, stretched muscles sore from sleeping on the ground, and walked towards the mouth of the cave.

The Doctor stopped there suddenly and turned to look at her, unspeaking, until she tilted her head in a silent question. He gazed at her face contemplatively for a moment longer, before remarking, "You know, we might die today."

She rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air, exasperated. Good grief. Was he really doing this now, on the heels of such an open, vulnerable moment between them? The emotional roller coaster was making her ill.

"Ah yes," she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course. Death. What a lovely thought to share over breakfast. You're quite the ray of sunshine, aren't you?"

"I didn't mean it like that," he chuckled, walking towards her, close enough for her to reach out and touch. "I only meant we don't know what to expect." He stepped even closer. "And if something terrible does happen, Charley Pollard, if today is all we have," he bent close to her ear and whispered softly, "I think I would regret it forever, if I never did this properly."

And then, before she had time to wonder what he meant, he ran the tips of his fingers from her temple down along her jaw line, then tipped her chin up as he leaned down and brushed his lips softly against hers.

The spark between them was electric. Charley gasped involuntarily at the contact, and then sighed in pleasure as she felt his fingers in her hair, raking against her scalp as the other hand came up to firmly grip her hip. He pulled her towards him and caught her bottom lip between his teeth, nipping her skin. The sharp sensation made her heart race, and a fresh bolt of liquid heat shot through her, feeding her desire. She gave herself up with abandon to the shuddering sensations that washed over her, moaning as he deepened the kiss and dipped his tongue inside her mouth to brush hers. She could feel a hot wetness between her thighs, and an aching emptiness inside of her.

He kissed her with the same degree of all-consuming, singleminded passion that he normally devoted to saving planets and thwarting criminal masterminds- as though nothing in the world existed outside of the two of them. She felt like she was drowning.

Clinging to his lapels she surrendered herself to him, melting into his arms and reeling in the smell, feeling, and taste of him. The hand in her hair tightened slightly and the hand on her hip pulled her forward until she could feel the evidence of his desire pressing against her again. This time she wasn't embarrassed. This time she wanted more. She eagerly pressed her body against his, seeking to appease the steadily increasing ache inside of her, and when he growled against her mouth and pushed his hips back against her she thought she might die from wanting him.

Too soon he pulled back, brushing tiny ghost kisses along her jaw and down her neck and stroking his hands up and down her back.

"Fascinating," he breathed against her skin.

She took several ragged, gasping breaths before she opened her eyes to find him watching her with rapt attention. His lips were swollen and his eyes were dilated, so dark they looked black in the dim light. She had never seen anything so gorgeous.

"Thank you, Charley Pollard." He said her name like a prayer and bent his forehead to touch hers. "Thank you for your faith, and your strength. You are utterly amazing."

Charley found a lump forming in her throat at his words, and she closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest as she tried to regain her composure.

"Now," he said, after giving her a moment to catch her breath, "let's see about that food and water, why don't we?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Tell me about them," she requested as they walked. "About Jamie and Victoria. In my dreams they're very dear to me."

"They were," he agreed, "very dear to me. Victoria was a beautiful girl - kind, compassionate. She with us purely by chance; her father had been murdered by Daleks, her home destroyed, and she had no living relatives. She came with us because she really had nowhere else to go. You'll never meet a lovelier girl than Victoria... But she was rather a reluctant companion. She was actually quite resourceful for a girl of her era, but her sensibilities were a little bit too prim and proper for our adventurer's lifestyle. Eventually she found a family to settle down with, and she was grateful to take her leave of the TARDIS.

"Jamie, though," the Doctor's voice grew wistful. "Jamie was different, fierce... almost feral. He was from long ago as well, but he loved it all: the traveling, the adventure, even the danger. Kindred spirits, we were. And Jamie stayed with me until the end. You know... He might have been the first human that I ever truly loved."

"A man?" Charley asked, surprised.

"Yes he was a man. Don't be so judgmental. Not all of us are from stuffy, repressed 20th Century Earth, you know. Jamie was as loyal as you are and, hard though it may be to believe, he was even more feisty. It seems I might have a type..." He winked at her, and she swatted his arm.

"Anyway," he went on, "I could have done far worse than love Jamie. But in the end, things didn't manifest between us in quite the way you're imagining. He loved me too, I'm certain. But he was from a far more socially conservative time than you are. If he was aware of his feelings for me, he probably never would have told me so. Still, who knows? Perhaps something might have happened between us one day if..."

"If?"

A dark cloud passed over his eyes.

"If I hadn't still been so young and naive. If he hadn't been taken from me. If they hadn't wiped his memories. If a lot of things had been different."

"Oh my God. How? Who took him from you? Who wiped his memories?" Charley was appalled.

The Doctor looked out into the distance, shaking his head sadly. "You're all so fragile," was all he said.

* * *

They walked for a short while in silence, the Doctor lost in memories. Before too long, though, they found themselves in an area with slightly more vegetation and a large creek with cool, clear water.

"It's only about three feet deep now, but from the look of things, this used to be a quite a river," the Doctor mused. "I wonder what happened here to put everything out of..."

"Oh look, Doctor," Charley grabbed his arm to get his attention, "do you see there, in the trees? That looks like fruit."

"Does it? Perfect!" the Doctor exclaimed, all traces of his brooding mood suddenly vanished. His eyes sparkled. "Yes, I see. The purple bits. Terrific! And these plants," he gestured to some squat, yellow stalks with leaves like fans growing close to her feet, "are certainly edible."

He examined one closely, tasted a bit of one.

"Eat the roots, not the leaves. The leaves won't agree with you. You collect some of these, and I'll climb and get a fruit or two. Maybe I'll see if I can catch us a fish... But first, oh, how wonderful, we can finally wash ourselves and our clothes."

"Bathe here? Out in the open?" Charley felt a tad scandalized at the suggestion.

"Yes, of course! Unless you've seen a convenient bathhouse nearby."

"But... Naked?"

The Doctor gave her a look that bordered on exasperated. "Yes, naked. This is no place for your Edwardian sensibilities, Charley. We have no idea when we'll find our next fresh water. And it's hot and arid here, so everything should dry quickly in the sun- no worries about mold. You should clean yourself and wash your clothes, to keep yourself healthy if nothing else."

Charley knew he was right. She couldn't remember her last proper bath, ad the thought of feeling clean did sound unbelievably appealing. But the idea of stripping down, outdoors, in front of him, made her feel girlishly nervous.

The Doctor indicated a branch off a nearby shrub with large, flat leaves. "The surface of these leaves is rough. You can use them to scrub your skin, if you like. Not quite as good as soap, but it should get the job done."

He was serious, she realized. Well then. Charley refused to act like a blushing maiden, despite her nerves. So she took the leaves from him, looked him in the eye, and smiled, trying to seem as casual as possible.

"Thank you, Doctor."

Then she turned her back and walked a few yards away to undress behind a bush. She decided that it didn't make her a blushing maiden to decline to undress completely in his sight line.

Once she was in the water, though, she forgot to feel modest. In fact, for a few moments she forgot about the Doctor entirely, along with anything else in the world other than the feel of clean water washing over her. The creek had been warmed by the two bright suns overhead and felt positively delicious.

She knelt until her whole body was submerged to the shoulders, then tipped her head back and rinsed out her hair, massaging at her scalp with her fingers. Nothing had ever felt so good. Once she had scrubbed every inch of herself with the rough leaves as the Doctor had shown her, she did the same with all of her clothes, washing them as well as she could, then laying them out to dry on the rocky shore.

And then, for a few moments, she allowed herself to simply relax.

She was floating and enjoying the flavor of one of the strange purple fruits which she had plucked from a low branch when she caught sight of the Doctor in the corner of her eye. She hadn't intended to stare at him, but once she had seen him she couldn't make herself look away.

His clothing was laid out to dry on a large, flat rock, and he was standing naked in the water with his back to her, running his fingers through his wet hair. The water came up to the edge of his hip bones, and the current lapped gently at the swell of his buttocks.

The sight of him actually made her mouth water, and she felt herself becoming aroused once again. She stayed there, mesmerized, in water up to her shoulders, until he turned his head towards her and gave her a smug smile.

"Like what you see?" he teased.

Charley didn't reply. She knew that he knew she did. She sank even lower in the water to hide her blush.

What she really wanted was for him to come closer, but if he realized that he wasn't letting on. He merely smiled, winked at her, and resumed cleaning his body.

"You look like a human man..." She said after a few moments, her uncertainty making it sound like a question.

"Have you ever seen a naked man?" He asked softly, his hands slowing in their scrubbing.

"Just statues," she confessed. "Paintings. Mother didn't necessarily approve, but she wanted us to experience art and culture, so there were naturally exceptions."

"You're welcome to come explore, if you like," he encouraged, straightening his shoulders as he stood to his full height, keeping his back to her. "And you don't have to feel shy," he added. "I promise I won't peek."

Charley's heart fluttered as she waded forward towards him. She came to stand just behind him and reverently laid her hands on his shoulders, relishing the feeling of his cooler than human skin and the hard muscles beneath.

"Mmmm," he sighed appreciatively as she squeezed his biceps and ran her fingers down his back. The sound went straight from her ears to her belly. The aching empty feeling deep within her that she had felt earlier that morning came back so quickly it almost took her breath away. Her whole body was tingling.

The Doctor stood perfectly still as she walked around to face him, his face completely serene, except for brows that were knit together over his closed eyes.

She ran her fingers along his face, and her heart leaped at his contented smile.

Her fingers met fresh scar tissue as they explored his chest, and she was horrified to realize that it must have been from the dagger she had plunged so desperately into his chest during the Zagreus debacle. She could also see, if she looked, the ragged line where her brooch had torn his throat as they sought to appease that horrid music creature. She crushed that memory, not wanting to spoil this moment with horror.

These were far from his only scars, though they were the ones she noticed the most. His body was a map of the dangers he'd lived through and the pain he'd experienced.

And these are just on this body, she thought grimly. This man has been through so much.

Putting the dark thoughts out of her mind she ran her hands over his pale chest, raking her nails over his nipples and causing him to gasp.

_Interesting..._ She wouldn't have expected a man to be sensitive there. She wondered where else she could touch him to make him gasp like that. Her curiosity made her braver.

Her mouth actually watered as she allowed her hands to wander even lower, gliding over the muscles of his abdomen, tracing the faint line of dark hair that ran down the center of his belly to disappear into the water.

He drew in an expectant breath, but didn't move a muscle.

But she wanted him to move! He was too still, too quiet. She felt like she was on fire, and this one-sided exploration simply wasn't enough to slake it.

"Please," she asked in a hoarse voice. "Please open your eyes."

He smiled at her and her heart leaped again. "Are you sure?" He murmured.

"Please," she repeated, placing her hands over each of his hearts.

And so he did, looking down into her warm, open face. He reached his hands up and wrapped his fingers around hers, clasped hard against his chest.

He started to speak, stopped, swallowed hard, then began again.

"Charley..."

"Touch me, Doctor. Please."

"Charley," he said in a husky voice. "Are you sure about this?"

"As sure as I've been about anything Doctor. Unless you... Unless you've decided that you don't want to. You mentioned that Time Lords don't."

"Oh I do want to, Charley," he reassured her. "And you know as well as I do that I'm a rubbish Time Lord."

To accentuate his point he took her hand down and grazed it lightly over the evidence of his arousal, just below the surface of the water.

A white hot spark in her belly ignited. The ache between her legs intensified.

"For me?" She whispered. The thought was driving her mad.

"Of course for you," he told her in that rough, low voice, with a flash in his eyes that made her shiver. "So forget the Time Lords. Where are they to see us and disapprove, anyway? A whole universe away."

It was true. Anyone who could ever object to their behavior was forever beyond their reach.

"The Time Lords are about as far away as my mother, I'd wager," Charley replied, punctuating her statement by reaching down and lightly squeezing his shaft, eliciting a ragged breath from deep in the back of his throat.

"Maybe farther."

_Far from rules, cut off from the expectations of others..._ The thought was almost as intoxicating as the sight and feel of the man in front of her.

_Here,_ she thought,_ we really are free. It's sort of wonderful, in its own way. Huh._ She had never thought she would have anything nice to say about the Divergents' universe.

Slowly, holding his gaze, she smiled as she touched him, entranced by the feeling of the soft skin gliding over the hardness underneath. She squeezed a little more confidently and her reward was an urgent moan. She had never heard anything so sexy.

"Am I doing it right, Doctor?" She asked, licking her lips, never taking her eyes from his.

"Charley..." This time when he said her name it was a tortured groan. Charley took it as encouragement.

"Touch me, Doctor," she murmured.

He swallowed hard.

"You don't have any idea what you're doing to me Charley." He whispered. "You make me feel like a rutting animal."

"Touch me, Doctor," she whispered again, right in his ear. "Please,"

He complied at last, moaning as she worked his shaft with her untutored hand, turning his face to capture hers in a rough, almost violent kiss.

His fingers tangled in her hair as they wrestled each other for dominance over the kiss. She eventually yielded, and the hand that wasn't in her hair pulled her lower body close against his. She snaked her arms around his neck and pressed her aching, naked breasts against his chest.

"Touch me, Doctor," she begged again. "More. Please."

Slowly moving towards the land, they made their way out of the creek and he laid her down on his coat, kissing her deeply before pushing gently on her knees, silently asking her to spread them. She complied, feeling wanton and reckless, and he laid down between them, biting along her neckline and jaw before moving his attention to her breasts, whose nipples were almost painfully hard and tight from arousal. Charley reveled in the feel of his naked body pressed against hers. She'd never imagined how good the simple sensation of skin against skin could feel. Her attention was torn between that feeling and his mouth and hands wandering over her breasts, biting, nipping, and sucking until she was whimpering and quivering with desire.

It wasn't enough.

"More," she begged. "More."

He smiled wickedly at her pleas, sliding up her body again and catching her bottom lip between his teeth in a rough, demanding kiss.

His hand traced the curve of her body down to her hip, and Charley was suddenly aware of how wet she was, craving contact in her most intimate places.

"Yes," she whispered. "Oh yes, Doctor." Of their own volition her hips rolled towards his, desperate for his touch.

"Not that, Charley," the Doctor chastised. "Not yet. You've never done this before, and we are going to take our time."

She made a desperate noise, and he quieted her with a kiss.

"Shhh, darling girl. Don't worry. I promise I will take care of you."

The Doctor moved from between her legs to lie on his side next to her, tilting her chin up to face him, and he held her gaze as, at long last, he plunged two long, clever fingers inside of her dripping core.

She cried out with the intensity of the sensation.

"Oh, Charley," his murmured low, near her ear, "you don't know how beautiful you are. How good you smell... How amazing you taste."

_Taste?_ She wondered.

Then, to her shock, he drew those two fingers into his mouth with a gesture that could only be considered filthy. The sight made her so aroused she could barely think. Every part of her, every cell in her body, wanted him with her, inside of her. Now.

"My Charley," he sighed, closing his eyes and sighing as if enjoying a particularly fine vintage of wine.

"More," she begged. "Doctor, please!"

"Greedy girl," he chastised her, almost growling the words into her ear, but he plunged his fingers inside her again, pressing the heel of his hand against the sensitive bud at the apex of her sex.

She gasped in pleasure and ground her hips up into his hand, raking her nails up his bare leg until she found his cock, achingly hard, with a bead of moisture welling from the tip, and began to stroke him again.

Charley felt the tension in her body building, building with every stroke of his fingers. She felt like she would break soon from the pressure, but at the same time she wanted more, more.

"Does that feel good, Charley?" the Doctor whispered, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke.

She tried to reply but her voice merely came out as a breathy keening sound. The pressure within her kept building.

"My beautiful Charley," he murmured, his voice catching as she tightened her grip on his cock. "The things I want to do to you, in my daydreams... You make me into a savage. A beast. I forget myself when I'm with you. Forget logic and sense. Right now, you're consuming me. The universe could burn, and I wouldn't give a damn as long as I have your hot, slick human body writhing under me, begging me for release."

"Doctor..." She whimpered, his words triggering something base and primal inside of her. She thought she would go mad.

"Is that what you want, Charley?" He growled. "Release?"

Charley didn't know. She moaned incoherently as the pressure within her threatened to make her crack.

Her trembling hand went slack on his cock, so he wrapped his free hand around it, keeping the motion steady, working her hand on him at the same pace as his two fingers inside of her.

"Come for me, Charley," he whispered desperately. "Let go, beautiful girl. Let it overwhelm you. I'm here. Come for me now, with my fingers buried inside you. I want to hear you. I want to see your face when you come for me."

The fingers around her hand gripped tighter, and she knew instinctively that whatever release he meant for her to have was not far away for him either.

The thought made her burn even hotter, and he drove his fingers deep inside of her again. She rocked her hips again into the heel of his hand.

"Come for me Charley," he gasped. "Now."

And she did.

The wave of sensation overwhelmed her in pulsing tremors, wracking her whole body as she cried out incoherently. She felt like her whole body was electrified, like her skin couldn't possibly contain her. Pulses of sensation radiated out from her core, washing over her all the way to the tips of her tingling fingers and toes. And then, like a wave cresting against the beach, the tension broke, ebbing gently and leaving her floating in a warm, blissful haze of contentment.

The Doctor's eyes were black with lust as he watched her come down from her peak, his lips slightly parted and his breath ragged. He still held her hand around his cock, swollen and harder than she would have thought possible, and he stroked it, using both of their hands, with slightly frantic motions.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered.

Charley rolled over onto her side to face him, relishing the blissful languor that washed over her.

"Doctor," she purred, leaning over to graze his ear with her teeth, "I think it's your turn."

She squeezed his cock in her hand, twisting her wrist lazily and murmuring low in his ear, "Let go, Doctor. Let go."

And suddenly his entire body went rigid and he took in a sharp, hissing breath. His head fell back, eyes closed tight. His hand on hers tightened painfully, and without another sound he came hard, shooting white ropes of semen over her belly and breasts as his taut body quivered.

Charley was transfixed. She watched him gasp several ragged breaths as he slowly regained awareness.

"Are you okay, Doctor?" She asked him.

"I..." He stammered, rolling onto his back to stare up at the sky, "Yes, I am, Charley. I'm- you are a very, very quick learner, Miss Pollard."

She smiled broadly and moved to lie with her head on his chest, listening to the rhythmic beat of his hearts. She knew she should wash away the evidence of his release, but moving seemed nearly impossible.

_Besides,_ a filthy, naughty voice in her head confessed. _You love being covered in it._

The voice was right.

"Thank you, Doctor," she murmured, enjoying the feeling of him against her body, tranquil in the aftermath of their exertions. "That was incredible."

"Yes, it was, wasn't it?" He said lightly, sounding rather pleased with himself.

"Oy! No need for an ego." She pinched him, and he swatted her hand.

"No ego? And here I thought it was the _Doctor_ you were so fond of."

"Oh. Quite right. Carry on." She laughed.

He hugged her tight.

Charley gazed up at the sky, wishing that they could hop in the TARDIS and fly away. "So, Doctor," she asked him, refusing to go down that path of thought. Where to next?"

"Well at this precise moment I find myself rather disinclined to move. But when that becomes less problematic and we've eaten our fill, why don't we check out those domes, off that way in the distance? It's the only sign of civilization I can see, so we might as well introduce ourselves. Someone there might have seen the TARDIS."

"Sounds perfect," Charley agreed. "But for now, I'd like to spend just a few more minutes right here. Just like this."

And so they did.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you've enjoyed yourselves... I know I enjoyed writing it. ;-)**

**Charley is a compelling character for me to write in a story of this nature, and also a challenging one. It's both fun and complicated to try and illustrate her strength and passion while also taking into account that her upbringing as a child in the 1920's in a wealthy family would have almost certainly left her conspicuously uneducated in matters of sexuality (certainly men's, but also probably her own). It's so different than writing about modern girls like Martha and Rose, or even older Classic Who ladies like Barbara Wright. It's so interesting to explore how different they all are...**

**If you have a moment to leave a comment or a review, as always, I'd love to hear from you. And thanks again for stopping by. Have a wonderful day! **

**xoxo**

**- OA **


	3. Chapter 3

Tomorrow they would head towards the city, "Light City," the Kro'ka had called it. But for now they would rest.

C'rizz, their newfound companion, had gone off by himself to meditate and mourn the loss of his wife. Charley, exhausted from her ordeal, slept fitfully on top of their coats a short ways away from him. And so the Doctor was left alone with his thoughts.

He'd almost lost her.

It wasn't the first time it had happened, and he knew it wouldn't be the last... But this time had felt different. The sight of her there, mutated... transformed into that grotesque, insect-hybrid breeding machine... It made him feel sick just to think of it.

He'd denied it at the time, rejected the idea outright, but deep down he had been terribly been afraid they were going to have to kill her, like... like L'da.

He looked towards where C'rizz had walked off to meditate.

_If I had felt I needed to make the choice he did,_ the Doctor wondered,_ if we had been just a little later coming to rescue her - if I had looked at Charley and seen her that far gone - what would I have done? What could I have done, if we couldn't have gotten her back? And how could I have lived with myself afterwards?_

He couldn't even make himself consider the possibility.

When, exactly, had Charlotte Pollard become so unspeakably important to him? He had begun to realize it when she was stretched on a rack, acting as a bridge to the anti-matter universe, in excruciating pain and begging for death, and it had taken him by such surprise that he'd confessed his love even in front of Levith, a Time Lord, and that crazed maniac Sentris, who wore Charley's face. That was when he realized it, yes. But it must have happened much earlier.

It occurred gradually, he supposed, in tiny moments and gestures, small feelings, until, by the time he even knew it was happening, he was so far entrenched he couldn't hope to escape it.

He had been accused by other companions he had known in this regeneration (Benny, mainly) of leading women on, when they fancied him.

_"She could be intelligent, interesting, beautiful, and throwing herself at you,"_ Benny would scold, _"Hell, she could be an astrophysicist and look like a super model! But if she doesn't have some sort of intriguing, mathematical formula written on her forehead, or an undiscovered alien parasite trying to take over her body, she'd have better luck flirting with a brick wall. How is it that you're so oblivious, if you're the smartest man in the universe? Do you really, truly not notice? Do you just not care?"_

With Charley he had noticed. He had been amused at her flirtation with the charming gondolier they had met during the final hours of Venice, Italy. He had seen how eager she had been to get to Singapore for the sake of a New Year's kiss, and had indulged her with amused affection.

And he remembered her at the Hellfire Club, corseted in red leather and metal spikes, the intended bride of a demon from hell. When he got her back into the TARDIS, when they finally had time to breathe a sigh of relief, she had looked up at him shyly and asked whether he could loosen her corset laces, clearly anxious to be back in her own, more modest clothes now that the crisis had passed.

She had blushed when she asked him; it was highly irregular for an unmarried young lady in 1930 to ask a man to help her undress.

And he had nodded wordlessly, smiling softly at her flushed cheeks and nervous hands, finding himself uncharacteristically at a loss for words. He was grateful when she turned her back, so that she couldn't see his hands shaking as he reached for the laces. Because in that moment as he looked at her he had felt a spark of tenderness laced with sharp desire. He had realized suddenly that he wanted to make her his, and the thought had frightened him.

_A Time Lord in love with a human girl... How completely and utterly terrifying._ And he couldn't explain to her, couldn't make her see... To her it was all so simple: I love you, you love me, we should be together. Full stop.

In a way she was right. It was so beautifully simple, so organic, just to let it happen. He loved to see the radiant beauty of her face when her eyes were lit up with joy, or the flush on her cheeks when they were caught up in a moment of danger or excitement. It warmed his hearts to know that she believed her life was better because she was with him. The love between them was the most natural thing in the world. Why shouldn't they bask in it?

Because then horrors like this would come to pass, and he would find himself huddled in the dark, paralyzed with terror at the bleak, inevitable certainty that he would lose her one day... if not today, then still all too soon. Humans led such miserably brief lives.

He'd tried to tell her. Yes, he loved her beyond reason. And yes, traveling with her was one of the greatest joys he had known in eight lives... But she didn't understand how easily his happiness could be taken away. How fragile and breakable she was, his precious _memento mori_, as he had so cruelly called her: his ever-present reminder that nothing lasts.

He couldn't take it.

Unable to sleep or even to rest, he pulled himself up and went over to where she was sleeping peacefully and blessedly unscathed. Safe.

_Through no doing of your own_, he reminded himself harshly. _You weren't the one who saved her._

It had been too close of a call. If the Oroog hadn't been there, if the Salanders hadn't known a way to reverse her horrific mutation, he wasn't sure he ever could have healed her. No TARDIS with it's infinite laboratories and medical supplies to aid him, no hospitals in sight, no frame of reference whatsoever for how to accomplish anything at all in this universe... the Doctor felt positively helpless.

She was beautiful in her sleep.

Unable to resist, he reached out a hand to stroke her hair.

Oh yes, he loved her. And it hurt.

Tears threatened to fall after a while as he ran his fingers through her silky blond locks, but he blinked them back quickly when she began to stir.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" she mumbled, her voice thick and groggy as she stretched.

"I didn't mean to wake you," he told her softly, by way of an apology.

"It's alright," she replied with a sleepy smile. "Doctor, are you okay? You look awful."

He smiled sadly at her blunt honesty.

"Just tired, Charley. Couldn't sleep. Too much on my mind."

She looked at him knowingly.

"Doctor I'm perfectly fine," she assured him. "We've been through madder, more dangerous disasters than this..."

"Not without the TARDIS," he cut in. "Not without some modicum of safety that I could provide for us - someplace warm and secure where we can eat and rest and heal. I failed you today, Charley."

"You did no such thing," she insisted firmly. "You did everything you could to get me out of trouble and-"

"And it wasn't enough. The Oroog is the one that saved you. I don't know the environment here, I didn't know where to look for the plants that healed you- I don't know anything! What good am I? A Time Lord in a land with no time. A Doctor who can't even heal a friend in desperate need. A man who can even protect the woman he..."

He trailed off bitterly, not wanting to upset Charley with a confession of love. She'd forbidden that word, and with good reason.

_You burned that bridge already,_ he reminded himself, _when you were too busy pushing her away "for her own good" to realize you were shattering her heart. You've lost the right to say such things. Keep your mouth shut, Doctor._

"Doctor," Charley was saying, pulling herself up to a seated position, "You did what you could. I know you did everything you could. That's all any of us can do, really. And really, truly, I'm fine!"

He shook his head dismissively, not ready to explain that he wasn't distressed because he thought she was still injured from today's ordeal, he was sick at the thought of her human fragility and his inability to protect her from the dangers of an unknown universe.

"You seem so upset. Tell me what I can do... How I can show you it's okay..."

She reached out to brush a hand against his face, and that simple gesture of tenderness caused something to snap inside him.

Rassilon, he loved this woman... this girl who wasn't scared of monsters, who constantly laid her life on the line for innocent strangers without question, who looked him in the eye and always told him the truth even when most people would lie... this strong, passionate, self-possessed woman, wise beyond her years, with the biggest heart he'd ever known and the ability to understand and even forgive his most egregious faults and mistakes.

He wanted... He needed... He had to know...

He felt his self control slipping.

"Mine," he declared hoarsely, taking her hands in his and squeezing almost hard enough to hurt her. "I need to know you're really okay, and that you're mine."

Charley's cheeks flushed and her lips parted. She was obviously thinking back to before their ordeal, to the intimate touches and heated caresses they had shared on the banks of that dying stream. For a girl from her era, those actions couldn't have been anything but a gift of herself to him.

"I've always been yours, Doctor," she reassured him quietly, "since day one. And I promise you, I am absolutely fine."

She gently pulled her hands out of his tight grip, and stroked his cheek before leaning in to tenderly brush her lips against his.

Her kiss felt like a benediction. The Doctor felt the tension in his shoulders lessen as he surrendered to his emotions, pulling Charley closer as he deepened the kiss, coaxing her lips open with his tongue. He poured all of the desperation and madness he was feeling into that passionate embrace, and when he felt Charley yield, offering herself to him, her body immediately responding to his advances with a wave of her intoxicating human pheromones, he believed nothing had ever smelled so good.

_This_, he realized. _This is what I need._

She belonged to him, as surely as he'd lost his heart to her. She was his and he wanted - no, needed - to claim her.

As he buried his hand in her hair he twisted it slowly, gripping hard enough to pull, and as she surrendered to him the desire he had felt for her by the water came surging back with a vengeance.

He growled low in his throat, a quiet, nearly predatory sound. Her eyes opened wide and he heard her heartbeat speed up ever-so-slightly. He twisted his hand in her hair and she whimpered, trembling with anticipation, desire, and perhaps the slightest touch of fear, which excited him more than he would have thought it could.

Rising up onto his knees, he pulled her up as well and drew her body tight against him as he nipped and kissed the irresistible skin along the hollow of her throat, pausing to catch her earlobe between his teeth. She moaned softly, clinging to his shoulders and letting her head fall back to give him better access to her neck.

The intensity of her reaction to him, the heat of her skin, and the soft yet unmistakable scent of her sex made him forget every trace of his emotional distress as he let his base instincts take over and his mind was flooded with lust. He could feel his cock hardening with arousal, trapped between their bodies. She could feel it too, he knew, and he flashed her a feral smile.

Moving in slow motion he leaned forward, inch by inch, until he could feel the heat of her breath on his face. He saw her eyes flutter closed and watched her delicious lips part in anticipation of his kiss... and then he turned his head to the side, bypassing her mouth entirely and leaning in to whisper against her ear, "I want to fuck you, Charley."

Then he released her hair, sitting back on his heels and looking her over. She seemed disoriented and blinked a few times, swaying to steady herself and support her own weight.

"What?" she asked, shocked at his crude words, though her voice was low and husky with need.

"I almost lost you today," he whispered. "I saw it unfolding. If I had been forced to- if, in the end, you were-"

He shook his head, unable to verbalize the thought.

"I need you," he confessed. "I need to prove you're real. I need to show you how much I..."

He trailed off, still not wanting to break her ban on the word love, even though his heart was bursting with it. Instead, he bent his head and kissed her again.

Understanding what he couldn't let himself say (she was clever that way), Charley melted into him without another thought of hesitation or reluctance.

"Well then, take me, Doctor," she murmured in his ear. "I've wanted you for as long as I can remember. You know that. If my body is what you need right now, take it. I'm yours."

He kissed her almost in disbelief, dizzy and off-balance, like someone who had been straining against an obstacle with all of his might only to have it suddenly move and cause him to lose his footing. He sighed, overwhelmed by the moment, closing his eyes to center himself.

"What's wrong now?" she asked softly, the feel of her voice vibrating through his shoulder and neck, where her head rested.

"Nothing," he assured her, laughing softly, amused at himself for how giddy and... human... he felt.

Charley picked up her head and leaned back in his arms, catching his eye.

"Then what's so funny?" She wanted to know.

"I'm just wondering what I've done to deserve you," he said, which earned him a delighted smile from Charley.

"Ah well, you know," she teased. "Save a few planets, foil a few evil megalomaniacs. A girl is bound to swoon. But you know, I really do wish we got out more. I really wanted to travel while I'm still young, you know? See some exotic places?"

"Cheeky!" He poked her in the side, and she giggled. He found himself laughing with her. For just a moment it felt like the old days, before the paradox of Charley's life had caught up to them. before the anti time and Zagreus had changed their lives forever.

Tenderly, he took her back in his arms and kissed her, then laid her back down on their coats and ran his hands, light as a feather, all over her deliciously soft curves and hot, satiny skin.

"I want you," he repeated in a low, rough voice.

"You have me," Charley replied, breathless.

He removed her clothes as though unwrapping a priceless, fragile treasure. At first Charley went to raise her arms to cover her soft, curvy body, shy under his intense gaze. The Doctor gently but firmly pulled them aside, moving them to rest over her head on her makeshift pillow.

"You are beautiful, Charley Pollard," he whispered, appreciative of the sight of her naked body laid out before him, "and you have nothing to hide."

Reverently, he worshiped her. He wanted to touch all of her, know all of her... and for once, he had what seemed like all the time in the world. She writhed beneath him, begging wordlessly for contact. Unable to deny her anything, he bowed his head to taste her hot, molten core.

Charley moaned and a tremor ran through her body. It made him feel like a god. And so with his dextrous tongue and the gentle touch of his hands he tried to show her his gratitude, praying at the altar of her body, trying to give her an offering of pleasure, some small indication of how much she meant to him, how grateful he was to have her here with him, safe and alive.

When he finally crawled up her body to capture her mouth again she was quivering with pleasure, pulling at his clothes, trying to rid him of them without much success, and when he kissed her he groaned at the taste of her lips mixed with the earthy flavor of her sex.

He found his hearts were pounding. A roll of her hips against his reminded him that his own body's needs had been completely ignored during his worship of her soft, feminine form. His cock was achingly hard in his trousers, and so sensitive that the brush of the cloth against his skin was almost painful. Quickly he stripped, coming to lie beside her and shivering at the touch of her hot skin against his.

"I don't want to pressure you, Charley," he whispered, trying to calm himself as he spoke. "If you want to stop, just say the word. I had planned for us to take our time..."

"Doctor," she whispered, "please. Do it. I'm ready."

The trust and sincerity in her eyes made his heart swell.

"Are you sure, Charley?"

She nodded. "I want this. I want you. Please, Doctor. I want it so much I feel like I'm going mad."

He smiled and kissed her deeply, trying to tell her without words how much he loved her.

Slowly he slid two fingers into her heat, moving them back and forth gently to stretch her muscles. She moaned in pleasure. When after a while he added a third she gasped, knitting her brow in concentration as she tried to adjust to the added girth.

She was impossibly tight. The sensation of her clenched around his hand sent a jolt of renewed desire straight to his cock, which was aching from neglect. He kept his fingers moving slowly back and forth, wanting to minimize her discomfort as much as he could for her first time.

After a time her face relaxed as her muscles yielded to the new, but not entirely unpleasant experience of being completely filled by his fingers. She was adjusting. He moved his other hand to gently, tenderly stroke he swollen clitoris, which caused her to gasp in pleasure.

He smiled.

Then, finally, when the last of her whimpers of discomfort had given way to breathless cries and he felt he might go mad from the ache in his groin, he moved to cover her body with his.

He positioned the tip of his swollen, rock-hard cock at her entrance, and she gasped at the feeling.

When he finally entered her, slowly but relentlessly, the tight, hot wetness of her center took his breath away.

"Charley..." he breathed, sinking slowly into her, and she moaned a wordless reply, wrapping her arms around the back of his head and shoulders, whimpering despite his careful preparations at the ache of muscles stretched farther than they'd ever gone before, all the while arching her back to draw him in closer. It was unspeakably good, deep, and hot. His bottom arm held her body against him while the top arm ran feathery touches over her hips, breasts, and the apex of her thighs where they were joined.

He kept his hips very still for a moment, though it took every bit of his self control to do so, not moving until she looked up into his eyes and nodded her consent.

Then he began a slow, steady pace, gentle but insistent, lost in the sensation of how amazing it felt to be inside Charley Pollard.

Charley's eyes were glassy. It was as if she was drunk on him, kissing him with a sense of desperation. The moans that were escaping from her throat as she licked the flavor of her own sex off of his lips would have turned the most penitent monk to sin. And the Doctor was not a monk.

His lust was driven to impossible levels as he moved over this woman who loved him so much she had given up the universe. He felt as though he was going to burst.

_Not yet, though_, he thought through a haze of unbelievable sensation. _Not yet. She is so close, you have to wait for her._

As the tension built in him he reached down to wrap a hand around the base of his cock, trying to stave off the inevitable.

"Doctor," groaned Charley, gazing at him through the fever haze of her passion. "I feel... I don't know... Don't stop."

"Oh, Charley," he groaned, "I'm gonna come soon, beautiful girl. You feel so good, I'm not going to last."

Her eyes darkened even more at those words, which encouraged him to keep going. She liked to hear him talk.

He leaned over and whispered in her ear as he moved with her, climbing higher and higher towards his own ecstasy.

"I want you to come too, Charley. Right now. Do you think you can do that for me? Touch yourself, Charley. Make yourself feel good. Oh yes, just like that. Come for me, come with me, oh, you are incredible, Charley..."

And after that, speaking was impossible until the moment the orgasm washed over him, among the most powerful he had ever experienced. It exploded through his taut body, causing him to throw his head back and scream as he held himself up on trembling arms, vaguely aware of her spasming and crying out underneath him.

Slowly, they came back to themselves, letting the aftershocks of their ecstasy wash over them, each listening to the sound of the other's breathing magnified by the silence of the planet's dim night.

The Doctor, realizing he had collapsed on top of Charley with the full weight of his body, moved to lie beside her, propping his head up on one arm as he gazed down at her flushed face.

"Are you okay, Charley?" He asked her softly.

"I'm... Fine," she told him, with a shy smile. "Sore, a bit. But I understand that's to be expected the first time."

He felt a small stab of guilt at her honest words and looked away from her.

"I should have been gentler with you," he said apologetically. "I should have-"

She cut him off by waving her hand, drawing his attention back up to her face.

"Doctor, really, do shut up. I'm not made of glass. I don't need to have you fussing over me like I'm an invalid. It's not as though you forced yourself on me, is it? This is something I wanted as much as you did. Probably more. And I was about to tell you, before you started beating yourself up all over again for no reason, that it was wonderful. It was absolutely amazing. Because it was with you, Doctor, and I can't think of anyone else I've ever met with whom I'd want to share... that experience. So, thank you."

The Doctor smiled at her. She really wasn't as fragile as he liked to think, was she? Charley Pollard had a spine, and a will of steel, and courage enough for five. Her life would be too short, of course. Humans' lives always were. And her loss would hurt him desperately, when it finally came.

He felt a fresh twinge at the thought, but crushed it down.

That day, when it came, would be painful no matter what did or didn't happen today. He'd learned that a dozen times over from his traveling companions in the past. That pain was simply the price of friendship. Would it hurt more because he was in love with her? Very likely.

But he, of all people, couldn't live his life in fear of tomorrow just to protect himself from a broken heart. That sort of cowardice went completely against his nature. So just maybe, for now, he could put all of that out of his mind and just let himself be happy with this woman while he had the chance.

Because she made him so unbelievably happy. And what's more, he realized, as a sensation of calm suffused him for the first time since their arrival in this universe, she was helping him heal. Tomorrow, even without the TARDIS, even trapped outside of time, didn't seem so bleak, as long as she was there beside him.

"Oh, Charley," he breathed, leaning down to kiss her forehead, then her lips. "However did I manage before you came into my life?"

"I'm quite sure I have no idea," she replied with a cheeky grin, reaching up and running her fingers through his tousled hair. "But I'm happy you did."

He smiled and leaned into her touch, enjoying the feeling of her fingernails against his scalp.

They stayed there together peacefully for a while in silence, touching now and then, pausing every so often for a soft kiss.

When the Doctor spoke at last, his voice was hushed.

"I hate to be the one to say so," he murmured as he ran his free hand over her naked breasts and torso, making her purr with pleasure, "but at some point we should probably put our clothes back on. C'rizz isn't going to stay away forever, and I know you have all of those silly, human hang ups about the naked body..."

She swatted him gently.

"What is it you always say about respecting foreign cultures and customs? Does that rule just not apply to you?"

He raised an eyebrow. She raised hers back. They both laughed.

"Quite right," he surrendered after a moment. "You keep me honest, Charley. Don't ever stop."

She smiled at him again, reaching for her blouse, then pausing to speak.

"Then... Well.. Now what? This was amazing... But... What about tomorrow?"

Was she really still so uncertain of his intentions towards her?

"Tomorrow," he said reassuringly, clasping her hands tight in his, "we will face tomorrow. Together."

"Together." The word sounded delicious on her lips.

"Is that alright with you, Charlotte Pollard?"

"It certainly is," she beamed at him. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

And the Doctor knew with utter certainty, as he pulled her into his arms, that neither would he.

* * *

**A/N: Hello there! Well, originally I'd only planned for this to be a two-part story, but then this happened. I'm glad, too, because I feel like this chapter makes a much better ending than the previous one. I wanted to have the Doctor let go of some of the angst he's been harboring, especially since he is at his happiest (and silliest), paddling around in a fountain in Light City at the beginning of _The Natural History of Fear._ **

**If you've read this far, please let me know what you think! We Eight/Charley shippers are rare... but we are obviously quite discerning, with impeccable taste. ;-) **

**Thanks for reading! ****xxoo**

**- O.A.**


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